The advantages of conventional toggle fasteners are well known. They are relatively economical to manufacture, simple to use, they are automatically self-adjusting for the depth of the blind entry through which they are placed (being similar to the thickness of the wall defining the blind entry) and they automatically adjust, within reasonable limits, to irregular seating surfaces. Thus, despite many varieties of blind entry fasteners, toggle fasteners continue to be popular.
The compensating ability of toggle fasteners to adjust for differing lengths of blind entries (thicknesses of walls) has been a function of the length of the screw element which may be as long as is reasonably necessary. However, a long screw has the disadvantage of requiring an installer to thread the toggle nut down a substantial and otherwise unnecessary length of screw shank, a particularly tedious operation if a long screw is used with a thin wall and if the installer is perched precariously and reaching inconveniently to the screw head. A greater disadvantage, and a functional limitation, of a long screw is the interference between a long screw and some member behind the blind entry, such as a second wall, or a wall stud, spaced a distance from the blind entry which is less than the length of the screw behind the toggle wings. In such a situation, the screw cannot be tightened to the extent necessary to secure a load to the toggle fastener. A further disadvantage of a long screw is its cost, which may not be insignificant in relation to the cost of the toggle fastener as a whole. A further disadvantage of the conventional toggle fastener is that the device being attached to the wall must be attached simultaneously with the bolt and attached toggle wing being inserted through the hole in the wall.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a toggle fastener which uses a shorter than conventional screw. It is a further object of the invention to provide a toggle fastener which does not require lengthy and tedious tightening of an unnecessarily long screw in order to secure the fastener and its load to a wall. It is a further object of the invention to provide a toggle fastener in which the screw is unnecessary to initially retain the toggle wings behind a blind entry and in which the screw may be removed without losing the toggle wings in an inaccessible location.
Briefly, but not by way of limitation, the present invention provides at least one ratchet bar connecting between the toggle wings and a cooperating ratchet retainer, whereby the ratchet bar, in cooperation with the ratchet retainer, secures the toggle wings behind a blind entry without the need for the conventional screw. The retainer has the ability to "ratchet" the length of the ratchet bar, that is, move along the ratchet bar toward the toggle wings and lock in any position therealong without back-sliding, and thereby securing the toggle wings in position through and behind blind entries of varying depths without use of the screw, and permitting a shorter screw to be used for holding a load. The ratchet bar passes behind the trunnion nut of the toggle wing, and so maintains proper orientation toward the wall hole so that the bolt is readily threaded on the nut even if the interior of the wall is not parallel to the exterior surface.